According to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, you won’t find the most connected people on the coasts, or deep in the heart of Texas, but largely in the Midwest. Just under three-quarters of U.S. households were online in 2015. But the most connected state isn’t located on one of the coasts — it’s in the heart of the Midwest.

Read on for the top 10 states with the highest concentrations of internet users, as well as stats that reveal how residents are accessing and utilizing the web.

10. Iowa

In 2015, 79.5 percent of Iowans, or 2,355,765 households, used the internet. In 1998, 996,217 (then 36.3 percent) households were online.

In 2015, 80.5 percent of Oregon residents, or 3,072,20 households, used the internet. In 1998, 1,356,308 households (then 41.2 percent) were online.

Oregon has the highest proportion of laptop computer internet users of any state.

7. Utah

In 2015, 80.6 percent of Utah residents, or 2,252,565 households, used the internet. In 1998, 812,717 (then 41 percent) households were online.

Utah is the state with the highest percentage of internet users who have wearable devices (2.2 percent) and who use smart TVs and TV-connected devices (36.3 percent).

6. Illinois

In 2015, 81.3 percent of Illinois residents, or 9,946,149 households, used the internet. In 1998, 3,715,059 (then 32.7 percent) households were online.

Of the 10 states with the greatest proportions of internet users, Illinois has the highest rate of desktop computer internet use (41.3 percent). In the nation as a whole, 34.3 percent of internet users access the web via a desktop computer.

5. Idaho

In 2015, 81.4 percent of Idaho residents, or 1,276,770 households, used the internet. In 1998, 466,151 (then 37.5 percent) households were online.

Nearly three-quarters of internet users in Idaho use the web to shop or make reservations.

4. New Hampshire

In 2015, 82.3 percent of New Hampshire residents, or 1,054,070 households, used the internet. In 1998, 520,158 (then 44.2 percent) households were online.

In New Hampshire, 23.4 percent of internet users take classes or participate in job training online.

3. Wisconsin

In 2015, 82.5 percent of Wisconsinites, or 4,539,764 households, used the internet. In 1998, 1,735,721 (then 35.6 percent) households were online.

After Rhode Island, Wisconsin is the state with the greatest proportion of internet users who say that affordability is the most important aspect of home internet service (as opposed to reliability, service speed, mobility, data cap or customer service).

2. Vermont

In 2015, 82.5 percent of Vermont residents, or 499,790 households, used the internet. In 1998, 242,734 (then 42.7 percent) households were online.

Vermont has the second-highest rate of internet usage by residents ages 15 and up (84.2 percent), behind Wisconsin (84.6 percent).

1. Minnesota

In 2015, 83.1 percent of Minnesotans, or 4,307,850 households, used the internet. In 1998, 1,889,017 (then 41.5 percent) households were online.

Related: 15 Throwback Web Pages That Show Us How the Internet Has Changed

A greater proportion of internet users look up health insurance info or communicate with a doctor online in Minnesota than in any of the other states in the top 10. Minnesota is second to Washington state in this usage category (38.9 percent of people in Washington state access health records online, compared with 37.9 percent in Minnesota).

Is public Wi-Fi safe? The short answer: Hell, no. But if you must use the free wireless at your hotel or the satellite office (i.e., Starbucks), here are some precautions you should take.

Keep it impersonal. Never online-bank via public wi-fi. Obvious, right? But you shouldn’t even check email — that can give hackersaccess to a trove of personal info. This applies even to secure websites, those with https (hypertext transfer protocol secure) in the URL. “Public hotspots are susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks” — where the hacker intercepts communications — “which will strip out the ‘secure’ part of https,” warns David Lee, a product manager for mobile at security software company Norton.

Beware fake networks. Check the network name with the staff of wherever you’re working. “You might see ‘Free-Starbucks-wifi,’ but this could easily be a fake,” says Jérôme Segura, a lead malware intelligence analyst at internet security software maker Malwarebytes. You’d be able to get online like everything was normal, except all your traffic would be visible to prying eyes.

Turn off sharing. Your device’s sharing function is designed to be used in a collaborative work environment, making it easy to let other computers on the same network access your files — something you definitely do not want on public wi-fi. When you disable sharing, it makes your phone or laptop invisible to others, and thus a less likely target.

Get your own network. Install virtual personal network (VPN) software, which establishes an encrypted tunnel for your internet traffic. But VPNs aren’t invulnerable, so you should stick to using https websites (which, sigh, still won’t guarantee safety). Also, look for a VPN that offers an anti-malware scanner and a mobile app.

Use your phone. You can use your smartphone as a hotspot for your laptop (it’s called tethering), which offers a secure connection. It does have a couple of downsides, though: First, you’re at the mercy of your carrier’s performance and data rates. Second, the websites you’re looking at know who you are and what device you’re using, whereas a VPN will make you completely anonymous.

Facebook is more than just the largest social-media platform on the planet. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based behemoth also uses its vast resources to help app developers make super-smart products.

If you haven’t already, say hello to Facebook Analytics for Apps. Since launching in 2015, more than 800,000 unique apps have used the service. And for good reason.

Facebook recently added web measurement and cross-platform analytics to the service’s growing stable of services. Leveraging demographics and rich audience insights from Facebook’s 1.7 billion users, the service offers developers a simple, streamlined way to understand the people who use their native mobile apps, desktop web and mobile web presences.

With that knowledge, developers can optimize the customer experience and reach them more effectively. Facebook Analytics for Apps goes beyond the usual stats like age and gender to provide anonymized and aggregated audience information including job titles, education level and even what Facebook Pages your customers like.

“Driving retention, engagement and conversion are important [for developers] and we wanted to lean on our expertise and infrastructure to help partners with the full set of growth tools,” says Facebook Product Manager Josh Twist.

Want to Know More About Search Engine Optimization?
Search engines are now increasingly demanding and exceptionally challenging to grasp. The search engine runs around madly, seeking for those specific words all around the world wide web. Many of the primary search engines don’t even think about the META keywords anymore, and that is why the true content of your webpages is getting more and more important. Be careful of individuals who promise you can trick the search engines using blackhat approaches, you are absolutely likely to play with fire. Google search engine applies an algorithm to try to locate a couple of exceptional things to be able to list a web site in the results when a person types in a particular set of keywords. Important search engines including Google, Yahoo, MSN Live and AOL get a terrific deal of searches each and every day.

Ruthless Search Engine Optimization Strategies Exploited
Search engine optimization part of internet marketing. There are essentially two forms of search engine optimization. Today, search engine optimization (search engine optimization) is a crucial portion of a thriving company, regardless of what you do and exactly what you sell.
Search engine optimization companies ensure that promised search engine marketing services incorporate the Google’s webmaster guidelines. A great SEO firm won’t be inexpensive. It will know how to do proper keyword research. Search engine optimization companies provide you with unbeatable edges since they offer you decent rates and outstanding brand management strategies. In case you be on the watch for a search engine optimization company that’s going to take great care of you, and really care about your wellbeing, you should be certain they possess the knowledge to possess the work done.
You should also understand that SEO isn’t discovered merely by key words. Search Engine Optimization can provide your brand a high global profile. Local SEO is described as that internet marketing action that enables local companies to market their services to local customers at that specific point in time when they’re looking for your kind of business. SEO let’s you see all the matters in astonishing details as an outcome of the wonderful analytic tools out there. SEO can raise the amount of visitors to your site which are actively looking for your services or products. Search Engine Optimization and social networking marketing ensure that one’s site has the very best SEO Internet marketing, meaning that their business can stay competitive in the net sector. You can get help from SEO Singapore who specialize in ethical seo also know as white hat seo.

The Little-Known Secrets to Search Engine Optimization
When you’re selecting the aid of a Search Engine Optimization Firm, you should prioritize what sort of services you’re interested in. Regardless of what your company’s online desires, search engine optimization services are ready to make your website soar over the remainder. During the site analysis, the search engine placement service will do the mandatory keyword research.
The higher on the webpage, more the visitors the website will get. With the right research, it is definitely going to be potential to receive your web site to show up when folks seek for it with certain key words and phrases. There are particular issues you can help make your web site is search engine friendly. You don’t wish to recognize your website blacklisted by the various search engines.

What’s Truly Going on with Search Engine Optimization
At this time, you can merely link from any site it must be a premium quality website with no less than a PR 2 or better and that is the most difficult part. Surely, a site gives your brand the optimal /optimally reach among the other advertisements sources and mediums. Each web site is afterwards linked one way to the site you are working to create backlinks for. Within this case your site will get links without a lot of intervention from you. You’re also welcome to take a look at my site to find out more.

On Halloween, what’s better than snuggling up on your couch, popping a bag of buttery popcorn, and binge watching scary movies all night? Then the doorbell rings. It’s a group of trick-or-treaters. You pause your movie, get up, dole out the candy, and then sit back down.

You don’t want to be “that jerk” with the porch light off and no candy on Halloween. But is it too much to ask to be able to watch Hellraiser or Children of the Corn uninterrupted?

The struggle is real. Netflix thinks it has the answer.

Say hello to the Netflix Halloween Doorbell. It’s a contraption that goes over your existing doorbell that “plays spooky sounds and music from your favorite Netflix shows.”

In other words, the device can blast the theme song to Stranger Things, for instance, while alerting trick-or-treaters to the tub of chocolates you stashed on your porch.

That means you’re free to Netflix and chill. All. Night. Long.

Oh, wait, of course there’s a catch: You have to build the darn thing yourself. Netflix outlines all the supplies you need and even offers instructions for how to create it from scratch.

As neat as this may seem, I doubt many people will enthusiastically figure out how to wire an Arduino Pro Trinket 5 or 3v microcontroller to a battery, LCD screen, an MP3 player, etc. etc. As they say, the ROI just isn’t worth it.

On any given day, ridesharing companies face the logistical puzzle of balancing supply and demand. As they strive to match the number of cars on the road with the number of passengers seeking rides, they rely on computer algorithms to guide drivers and keep customers updated in real time. But on a busy night such as Halloween, the balance becomes even more challenging to maintain.

Yes, Halloween is one of the busiest nights for ridesharing. And, of course, there’s New Year’s Eve, when demand skyrockets, as well as times when it spikes in a particular market, such as Mardi Gras in New Orleans, St. Patrick’s Day (for cities such as Chicago that are serious about their pub crawls) and even smaller occasions such as sporting events, concerts or conferences.

Like New Year’s, universality defines Halloween. Drivers aren’t necessarily directed to a certain part of town, because people could be celebrating anywhere. This creates not only a challenge for the companies, but also an opportunity. It requires a few tricks to wrangle contractors and make sure everyone gets their treat: Drivers get paid, customers get efficient rides and the company profits.

The fact that ridesharing services dispatch fleets of contractors, rather than employees, is what makes all of this so complicated. Simply put, the companies can’t tell drivers, “You have to work.” They can suggest it, but they can’t mandate it. This is the wrinkle that an increasing number of companies will navigate as technology fosters the continued expansion of the gig economy and remote workforces become more common.

No one can anticipate exactly how many drivers will be on the roads on Halloween or other busy nights. Even the most prominent ridesharing companies have been around for less than a decade, so they have minimal historical data upon which to draw. That’s why the economically savvy strategies that they have developed to bolster supply will be in full force on this Halloween.

Predicted dynamic pricing

Chances are, you’ve been on the receiving end of dynamic pricing as a rider. Uber calls it surge pricing. Lyft calls it Prime Time. During periods of high demand, ride prices increase.

“Halloween is one of the busiest nights of the year for Lyft,” a Lyft spokesperson said in an email statement to Entrepreneur. “Because of the high level of the demand, passengers may encounter Prime Time prices, but we will do everything we can to ensure that there are enough drivers on the road to keep rides affordable for everyone.”

Dynamic pricing frustrates many customers, which is what ridesharing platform Gett banks on.

“We will offer surge-free fares on Oct. 31 and throughout Halloween weekend, just like we do on every other day of the year,” said Gett CMO Nahshon Davidai in an email statement. “Gett is completely transparent about pricing and offers firm quotes based on the estimated time and distance of the ride. As a result, customers won’t need to worry about increased fares due to higher demand on Halloween.”

Davidai also noted that for 50 select “peak” hours each week, Gett pays its drivers 1.2 times their regular pay, and the company takes 10 percent commission from drivers and allows them to accept and keep all of their tips. The company did not specify whether it has any plans for Halloween in terms of driver pay or incentives.

(Uber declined to share information with Entrepreneur regarding its strategies for managing supply and demand on Halloween. Other ridesharing companies Via and Juno did not respond in time for this story’s publication.)

Yet dynamic pricing is core to how many ridesharing platforms operate, regardless of how customers may feel about it. It’s not meant for price gouging — it’s a way to limit demand.

“It’s a losing battle to stick to a ‘we’re against surge’ message, though it may appeal to certain customers,” says Arun Sundararajan, professor of information, operations and management Sciences at New York University’s Stern School of Business and author of The Sharing Economy. “It’s certainly one of the innovations that was necessary. You could never get a taxi during rush hour five years ago.”

Sundararajan explains that airline ticket prices fluctuate constantly, but customers have grown to accept the fact that the person sitting next to them on a flight may have paid a much lower price for his or her trip. He expects that surge pricing will become more a part of the landscape. “I don’t think this is the best branding choice to call it surge pricing,” he says. “Airlines don’t call it anything.”

Earlier this week, I came home and found a box on my porch. Inside was something I had pre-ordered 22-½ months ago. It’s been almost two years.

The item in question is Navdy, a $800 head-up display (HUD) that pairs with your smartphone to show driving directions, text messages and phone calls on a transparent screen on your dash. Navdy’s maps appear as though they are projected onto the road in front of you so there are no visual obstructions. Calls and messages are managed using simple hand gestures.

It makes virtually any car smart. I thought it sounded like a smart idea when I placed my pre-order in mid-December 2014. At that time, Navdy was supposed to ship in the first quarter of 2015. Here we are, early November of 2016. So, I asked Navdy founder and CEO Doug Simpson what the heck the deal was.

“We thought we could leverage more off the shelf technology but we learned that we had to build almost everything ourselves,” Simpson admits. “During the development process, we encountered opportunities to improve the experience and we thoughtfully chose to do so. Every aspect of the product was carefully designed and tested, and we are now excited to get it into the hands of consumers.”

So, with excited hands, I unboxed Navdy and put it through its paces. Here’s a rundown of my experiences and observations over the last few days.

The setup

Navdy finally arrived — two years later.

Image credit: Jason Fell

Inside the box is the Navdy display, three dashboard mounts (shorter to taller, depending on your needs), a dial that attaches to your steering wheel and allows additional control of the device, and a power cord, among other things.

You can have Navdy set up in minutes — maybe 30 at most. Download the Navdy app from Apple’s App Store or Google Play and watch the simple how-to video. Once the dashboard mount is adhered, attach the power cord and plug it into your OBD-II port.

Navdy comes with clips to conveniently run the power cord from the mount, along the back and side of the dashboard, out of the way. The adhesive on my clips unfortunately was not sticky. Luckily, I had some double-sided mounting tape laying around and used that. We’ll see how long those clips stay put.

Directions and the display

Chalk it up to early days using the device, but Navdy monopolized my attention on a recent nighttime drive to a nearby hardware store. Toggling through music, accepting a phone call and searching through the interface was probably too much to do while trying to keep my focus on the road and Navdy’s directions.

For instance, when the call came in from my friend Alex, I was so interested in accepting it and adjusting the speaker volume on my phone that I missed my exit off the highway. Immediately after hanging up, a text came in on Navdy’s display from Alex. “Don’t crash,” he wrote. Thanks, buddy.

In Minneapolis, more than 5 percent of people bike to work. The bike culture has spawned a winter bike expo, a bike-related art poster fair and supports a community of artisan bicycle makers, independent bike retailers and accessory makers.

Shops like A Train Cycles, Appleman and Peacock Groove (no relation to me) turn out a variety of bicycles, including some designed for riding in the Minnesota snow. Brake Bread will even deliver fresh-baked bread by bicycle right to your door.

Today’s consumers crave unique and personalized products and services, and businesses like these are part of a massive new opportunity for small businesses to take on the big guys.

The bulging beer cooler at your neighborhood market is another perfect example. Craft breweries quadrupled their share of the U.S. beer market from about 5 percent in 2008 to now more than 20 percent, according to the Craft Brewers Association.

Niche grocers also are grabbing share. Fueled by hyper-localization and specialization — think local honey and small batch hot sauce — natural/gourmet stores are projected to grow 6.8 percent annually over the next four years. That’s more than double the growth expected for discount stores, according to a recent Nielsen report.

The North American Handmade Bike Show has grown to 180 exhibitors and thousands of attendees from its beginnings in 2005, when 23 exhibitors showed off their wares for 700 biking enthusiasts.

No matter what the business, today’s consumers want something unique. That means the huge scale of big chains and corporations has turned from an advantage to an Achilles heel that small businesses can take advantage of. It might seem daunting, but the opportunity is real.

According to a new study from QuickBooks, this rising demand for niche products and services is one of the key trends small businesses can leverage to drive success and tap new markets.

Access to world-class business infrastructure, valuable data, a talented pool of on-demand employees and cost-effective online advertising are also leveling the playing field for entrepreneurs who take advantage of them, according to the QuickBooks Future of Small Business report.

What I love is that these technology-driven shifts complement what has always been the essence of small business success — passion, community (now either physical or digital via social networks) and the personal touch. Technology has just set them on fire.

Custom wheels: The rise of the artisan bike shop.

Today’s consumers are not just looking for a product or a service. They are looking for experiences and personalized service, and they expect to be given the opportunity to shape the products and services they use. All of those things are right up the power alley of small businesses. That’s part of what has driven the rise of the artisan bike maker.

Every headline-grabbing hack is a stark reminder that your data isn’t always safe in other companies’ hands — or clouds. One solution: Create, and manage, your own cloud using the ZeroStack Z-Block.

Step 1: Plug it in. The ZeroStack system is a box (yes, like on Silicon Valley) that can quickly plug into a company’s network, transforming the system into a web-accessible cloud computer. “Customers can deploy a cloud in less than an hour, instead of days or weeks,” says Ajay Gulati, cofounder and CEO of ZeroStack. The price starts at $5,000 per month.

Step 2: Control your data. Your cloud can be accessed from any web browser. Because ZeroStack uses your company’s own server, you can keep a watchful eye on your data instead of trusting your valuable information to somebody else’s server farm. And while this doesn’t make you hackerproof (it’s not magic), you won’t be suffering collateral damage when some bigtime hack hits a tech giant.

Step 3: Say, “Bye, ITguy.” Keeping a fully private cloud afloat typically requires specially trained IT teams. Not this one. “Our management software monitors the cloud for problems and fixes them automatically,” Gulati says. And should you need help, service and support from ZeroStack are included.

Few industries are as competitive as ecommerce. Not only are online retailers competing with other online stores and brick-and-mortar locations, but also the overall noise that is the Internet. We live in a world where consumer attention span is getting shorter and shorter:40 percent of people abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load, and the average shopping cart is abandoned more than 68 percent of the time. I’m hard pressed to find an ecommerce site that is not constantly scrambling to engage more and drive more sales.

Technology is finally helping with those efforts in a big way. Artificial intelligence (AI), which has demonstrated its value in industries like marketing, healthcare and finance, is now making a splash in online commerce.

Related: Tech Moguls Such as Musk and Bezos Declare Era of Artificial Intelligence

Antoine Blondeau, CEO of the world’s most funded AI company,Sentient Technologies, once said, “Five years from now, we’ll see AI take a bigger role in making decisions, creating pre-emptive solutions, and delivering insights. Society will become much more efficient as a result. Think logistics, ecommerce, healthcare, finance — in all these domains and others we will start to see massive gains from AI. We’ll be able to leverage AI systems to help get things to where they need to go faster and cheaper, we’ll be able to enable people to see and buy things they weren’t even aware existed or even knew they wanted.”

Here are three ways AI will impact ecommerce in the coming years:

Visual search.

Shoppers, say goodbye to impulse control. Software platforms that drive ecommerce websites are creating visual search capabilities which allow consumers to upload an image and find similar/complementary products. The visual search capabilities, particularly via mobile, “reads” the item for clues — color, shape, size, fabric and brand. This helps consumers to find exactly what they are looking for right away.

“In the age of Snapchat, Instagram, and the rapidly reducing attention spans of the digital age, AI-driven platforms will be essential to ecommerce success,” says Akash Bhatia, cofounder and CEO of Infinite Analytics, a deep machine learning and predictive analytics platform for retail.

The outcome of this election revealed many things about the issues facing this country, what we care about and what divides us. But the candidates weren’t the only winners and losers last night.

Read on for some of the unexpected victories and defeats of the election cycle.

Twitter
The social platform was the president-elect’s communication tool of choice, but the vehemence of opinion around the election cycle put in stark relief the company’s struggle with policing hateful speech, so much so that Twitter’s bid to get purchased fell flat earlier this fall.

Graphic design
The 2016 election cycle had its fair share of some pretty iffy campaign art, from Jeb Bush’s exclamatory Jeb! logo, to Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s unfortunately suggestive first logo when they announced their ticket.

The stock market
Though we have no way of knowing exactly how the economy will be impacted by Donald Trump’s entry into the White House, stock markets all over the world last night were experiencing significant drops.

Marijuana legislation
Recreational marijuana was made legal in California, Massachusetts and Nevada, while medical marijuana usage was voted into law in Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota. Maine is expected to pass legislation legalizing recreational marijuana.

Emojis
Namely, the smiling poop emoji. It was, for a brief time, front and center on Donald Trump’s campaign website.